1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shaft member holding mechanism that holds a shaft member rotatably, a photoconductor drum unit including the shaft member holding mechanism, and an image forming apparatus including the photoconductor drum unit.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, there are image forming apparatuses such as printers and copiers that have photoconductor drums. The photoconductor drum includes a photoconductor drum body and a shaft member arranged at both ends of the photoconductor drum body. In addition, the shaft member of the photoconductor drum is held rotatably about a predetermined rotation axis by a holding portion (holding mechanism) formed on the apparatus body side.
As the mechanism that holds (supports) the shaft member in the photoconductor drum, for example, a mechanism is proposed in which the shaft member in the photoconductor drum is held rotatably by a bearing.
However, in the above mechanism, when the user installs the bearing to a predetermined holding member in a state where the bearing has been installed to the shaft member, there are cases where the bearing is attached to the holding member in a state where the angle to the rotation axis is different from a desired angle (angle of initial setting).
In particular, in cases where the bearing is arranged at a position spaced apart a predetermined distance inside (center side of shaft) from the end of the shaft member, or cases where the position (position of the portion holding a bearing) in the holding member where the bearing is attached to is located at the back side in the insertion direction of the bearing, there were times when installing the bearing at a desired angle (for example, vertical) to the rotation axis of the shaft member (photoconductor drum) was difficult.